Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 July 2021
Additive manufacturing (AM), which was first applied for rapid prototyping, is now becoming a real option for small-batch production of final products. Further expansion of AM is closely correlated to production costs. AM can only become competitive to traditional manufacturing methods if a product is designed for AM already from the beginning as it is an expensive technology that should only be applied if it adds enough value to the product. The aim of this paper is to increase cost awareness in the conceptual design phase and to support product developers in doing AM cost estimation and process selection. The proposed model integrates design for AM and costs calculation. The input data to the process is preliminary design and design requirements. The main contribution of this paper is the multi-criteria AM function, which enables concurrent consideration of different technical and economical criteria. The multi-criteria AM function helps to compare how AM processing and product design parameters influence the product cost. The holistic overview of different options increases the solution space and enables product optimization in several iterations.